Italy conquered Abyssinia in 1935-6. Some
historians see a direct link between the crisis over Abyssinia and the outbreak
of world war in 1939. In 1977 a British historian called Anthony Adamthwaite
wrote: 'If there was a turning-point on the road to war it was the Abyssinian
crisis of 1935-6. The crisis was the major step towards war.

What were the results of the invasion of
Abyssinia?

The search for an empire

In the late nineteenth century Italy tried to
conquer the African state of Abyssinia (known today as Ethiopia). The attempt
ended in disaster. In 1896 the Abyssinians destroyed an Italian army at Adowa.
The Abyssinians castrated the Italian prisoners of war taken at Adowa. The
battle stopped Italy for a while but after Adowa many Italians wanted to take
revenge.

Mussolini looks south

By the early 1930s Italy was suffering from
the Depression. Mussolini wanted a successful war to strengthen his position at
home. He was also disturbed by the rise of Hitler. Hitler was planning to
dominate central Europe, so Mussolini decided to look south and make Italy a
great Mediterranean power. This led him to think about an Italian return to
Abyssinia.

The Stresa Front

France and Britain were keen to stop Italy
joining forces with Germany. In return, they seemed ready to give Italy a free
hand in Africa. In April 1935 Mussolini met the French and British prime
ministers in the Italian town of Stresa. They condemned German breaches of the
Treaty of Versailles. People began to talk about the Stresa Front: an anti-German
grouping of Italy, Britain and France.

The Stresa agreement was vague: the
declaration talked only about the need to 'keep the peace in Europe.' Mussolini
understood this to mean that France and Britain would not object to the Italian
use of force outside Europe. Mussolini thought that in return for supporting
France and Britain in Europe he would be allowed to attack Abyssinia without
any retaliation.

The Anglo-German Naval Agreement

The British government greatly weakened the
Stresa Front in June 1935. Britain signed a treaty with Germany over the
strength of their navies. This fixed the size of the German navy at 35 per cent
of the British navy. The agreement allowed Germany to have submarines. The
French and the Italians were annoyed by the Naval Agreement. They had not been
consulted and the agreement was breach of the Versailles Treaty.

Invasion

The Italian attack on Abyssinia began on 3
October 1935. Symbolically, one of the first Italian actions was the bombing of
the town of Adowa. scene of the Italian defeat in 1896.

Britain and France were caught in a dilemma.
They did not want to annoy Mussolini, but they also wanted to support the
League of Nations and the idea of collective security. Abyssinia was a member
of the League of Nations. The League condemned Italian action and imposed a
trade ban. However, the ban did not include the trade in oil and petrol. This
was crucial. As long as the Italian had petrol they could continue the war.
Limited sanctions did not work.

The Hoare-Laval Pact

The reaction of the French and British
governments was half-hearted. In December 1935 the British Foreign Secretary,
Hoare, had secret talks with Laval, the Prime Minister of France. They designed
a compromise, known as the Hoare-Laval Pact, under which Abyssinia would have
been divided in two, with Italy given the richer part. The war was going badly
for Mussolini and he might have accepted the deal. However, the details of the
Pact were leaked to the press. There was uproar in Britain. People saw it as a
surrender to Italian aggression. The Pact was scrapped and Hoare was forced to
resign.

After the failure of the Hoare-Laval Pact
Britain and France took a tougher line against Italy. In March 1936 they
finally decided to ban the sale of oil and petrol to Italy but by this time it
was too late. In May 1936, before the oil and petrol ban had started properly,
Italy won the war. The League had failed and on 15 July all the sanctions
against Italy were ended.